Re: Harley Davidson Dyna ride height

Ruppster said...

Christ, you can almost hear the "Pwoit....ding" as he gobs at the
spitoon in the corner between paragraphs.

I find it impossible to accept that any Harley engine will last 400,000
miles without a rebuild of some sort. Even pig-iron wears out, and the
recycled Budweiser cans the rest of it is made from will have long since
seen better days. Absolute rubbish.

Clue #1) Hardly can afford to give a 2 years warranty because they know
that 99% of the bikes sold are driveway ornaments and will be lucky to
do 1000 miles in those first two years.

Clue #2) Honda spares are available for even the oldest model, as are
Kawasaki and Suzuki. Yam spares are a litle harder to source, but still
not that bad.

Clue #3) Why call it a Sportster when it has absolutely no sporting
prowess whatsoever? Here in the UK that could be deemed as contravening
the Trades Descriptions Act, or possibly the Sale of Goods Act.

My biggest problem with HDs is the fact that they do nothing well,
absolutely nothing at all. The Japaneses factories have long since
overtaken them in every respect. I don't like cruisers, but I know there
are better looking, more powerful, smoother running, more reliable
better built and cheaper Japanese alternatives, so why do HD insist on
hyping up the overweight and overpriced shit they produce. It's just
flag-waving patriotism at its very worst.

Thankfully the British bike industry was killed off by Jap imports. It
was the best thing ever to happen to motorcycling in Britain. We were
spared the humiliation of seeing everyone buying superior bikes while
the Brit ones languished in the showrooms. When Triumph was reborn in
the early '90s they knew they would never be able to get away with
building the sorry sacks of shit that the old firm were known for. It's
about time Harley Davidson did the same and died a sudden death, so they
can restart with something new that will appeal to a wider market. If
it's any good I'll buy it, but I wouldn't touch the pathetic excuses
they produce now.

 

Lozzo wrote

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I like that. Very good.

 

Need longer sleeves on that jacket, I think. Help stop the knuckle wear.
--
Dave

GS850x2 XS650

On UKRM you're just a **** with opinions.

 

Grimly Curmudgeon said...

I'm amazed he manages to type with those webbed fingers, he must have
had a clever person install voice recognition software. He's a good
advert for why marrying your sister/mother/aunt/cousin[1] is not a good
idea.

[1] They could be one and the same person in some of the US towns I've
been to.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Grimly Curmudgeon

I have to say, I am delighted with this whole thread.

I'd have thought that such obviously stinky bait would be waaaaay past
its cast-by date.

But, the old'uns are still the good'uns it seems. It's reassuring to
know I haven't *completely* lost my touch.

Keep it up chaps[1].

[1] Not the leather chaps with tassles, obviously. They're for poofs.
And Harley riders[2].

[2] *Waves* to Gyp.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - There are few things in life more sinister than a
public toilet with the lid closed.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Some people have apparently been riding almost 30 years and still
haven't learned the old adage of "different strokes for different
folks." Of course, if they had any experience with actually riding
motorcycles at their absolute limits, they would know that it ain' the
bike, it's the rider. Sure, an average rider on a top-flight handling
sport bike can get around a tight race track as fast as an expert
rider on a less adept handling motorcycle, but in the real world where
one deals with sand and gravel in corners, less than perfect traction,
the possibility of oncoming traffic, little or no run-off, telephone
poles and guard rails right next to the road surface, having the
ultimate handling motorcycle is meaningless, since the performance
advantages can't be exploited. Reminds me of passing sportbikers on
600s while riding Deals Gap on a 700 pound ST1100. But then, I've
ridden 600s, ST1100s, and Harleys. I understand the differences
between them and their relative strengths and weaknesses. And the
bigots who haven't so much as thrown a leg over a Harley are the ones
who talk their trash the loudest.

If they believed their own spew, they'd just STFU about it. But, their
little egos can't handle the idea that other riders might choose
something that they can't wrap their tiny little minds around.

Of course, every Harley I've owned has been able to easily and
nonchalantly take corners at 100 mph. At least, some corners! ;-)

Notice that it's only the idiots who have no experience at all who spew
the most vile remarks? Heh.

 

Gary R. wrote

Oh, I do so agree with that.

Then you go and spoil it by changing the subject away from motorcycles.

 

If you want me to respond you'll have to wave in a heterosexual way, OK?

 

You nailed that one, Gary. That's why I just write them off as
clueless idiots. I come to this newsgroup to share my love for bikes
and will give the shirt off my bike to anyone on a bike, regardless of
where it was made. It just pisses me off when people that have no idea
what they are talking about spew such bs as if they knew what they
were talking about. I thought this group was about being in to bikes,
not to spew crap about one bike or another based on info we have no
idea about. As I mentioned I was just as guilty till I had a chance to
learn that I was way off. Back then I based my info of the same bs
that was told to me and kept passing it on like an idiot. Now I have
just as much respect for a Harley as I do a Honda. Yes, I do agree
that they are overpriced but that is the fault of the market that is
willing to pay for them. If people would quit doing that then Harley
would be forced to drop they price. MS is just as guilty of this (XBox
360 for example) yet you don't see riders of metric bikes calling MS
nothing but an overpriced piece of crap. As you mentioned "different
strokes for different folks". If they want to pay the price to ride
them more power to them.

Ruppster
sportster at dodge-semis dot com

 

They sell twice as many streetbikes in the U.S. as #2 Honda does, even
without a single model below 883cc's.

It's true, England couldn't produce a single bike good enough to
compete with the Japanese (or car, or radio, or truck, or anything else
for that matter) but your laughable little country's complete and
abject surrender shouldn't make you so bitter that you simply turn
traitor and embrace whatever shit the victor now choose to shovel your
way.

Luckily, Harley-Davidson resisted, retooled, regrouped, and then simply
destroyed the Japanese at their own game.

Hell, Honda's number one motorcycle in the U.S. would be considered a
failure in Harley-Davidson sales. Hell, it would be a Buell !

 

Yep, sure goes to show you haven't a clue about what you are talking
about. You don't even know why the Harley dealership hired me yet you
sure can jump to a conclusion real quick. For your info I was hired
due to my electronics background because of the FI systems. I have a
good background in mechanics due to restoring old cars and trucks for
20 years but since I never worked as a "professional mechanic" for a
living I didn't have a "true mechanics pedigree". I would be willing
to bet you that at least 75 percent of the guys that have gone through
MMI or IMI and are currently working at your beloved Honda dealership
wouldn't even have made it through the 1 year electronics school I
went through in the Air Force. Even with the tough ASVAB score that
was needed to get in to the field I was assigned to we still had about
a 20 percent failure rate.

When I was interviewed by the manager at the Polaris dealership I now
work for the first question he asked be about was "do you know how to
troubleshoot FI systems?". My response was: "Work on them? Hell, I can
build one from scratch." Needless to say I got the job real quick.
What I have found out from the all the shops I've worked for mechanics
are a dime a dozen but having one that understands electronics just as
well is harder to come by. The Honda dealer in Alaska that I was
dealing with only looked at my mechanic background but the Harley and
Polaris dealers looked at the overall picture instead. So care to tell
me now which dealer was the dumb arse?

Ruppster
Sportster at dodge-semis dot com

 

Ruppster said...

My money's on the Harley/Polaris dealer. Maybe they saw two 4lb lump
hammers hanging out of your dungaree's pocket and thought "He's fully
equipped to work on our shit"

 

Hold on there. I was stupid enough to own a Harley (883 Sportster)
from new and it was a piece of crap. I really wanted to enjoy it for a
year or so as a change from sports bikes but it had the worst build
quality of any bike I've had from new. Reliability was an issue from
day one and in the end I just exchanged it for a nearly new GSXR750.

Just a few of the problems encountered are listed below in roughly the
order they occurred.

Rear indicators failed. The tyre had rubbed through the cables that
were routed directly under the rear mudguard.

Headlight blew. Several times. No easily identifiable reason, it's
just character building.

Front brake didn't work. When I say didn't work I mean it had brakes
roughly equal to those on a pedal bike.

Earth connection strap to the battery had to be constantly removed and
cleaned with abrasive tape. Even after trying to stop this by smearing
the terminals with grease the problem continued.

Lacquer peeled off of the engine casings even though the bike wasn't
used in shit weather conditions.

Countless loose spokes in both wheels.

The ignition lock had to be sprayed with WD40 on a weekly basis or the
key wouldn't turn.

All of the above occurred within 3 months of me buying it and my
dealer didn't give a shit. I traded it in after about 9 months and
will never buy another Harley.

I've owned several Japanese bikes from new and one Italian bike. I'm
not inexperienced having ridden bikes since 1975 and I'm not a
mechanical novice because I work as an engineer repairing various
types of rotating equipment. The Harley was just a major piss take and
they shouldn't be sold in Europe where bikes are expected to be able
to stop and corner efficiently.

 

Sure is easy to pull another insult outta your pocket when you know you're
outclassed and outsmarted isn't it riceboy .
And before you stoop to insulting me too , I happen to have just as many
Japanese bikes as I do Harleys - actually more if you count the busted up
ones I bought for *parts* . The Harley just happens to be the most
comfortable one for the style of riding I do the most - long distance
touring . And y'all're full of crap about parts availability for older
Oriental Iron , the dealer network does *not* support bikes more than a few
years old . I can walk into any Harley dealer in the world and get parts for
either of the Harleys - maybe not *all* the parts , but a significant
percentage of them .
Ever tried to get a petcock rebuild kit from the dealer for a 30+ year old
Honda ?
--
Snag aka OSG #1
'76 FLH "Bag Lady"
'01 Kawasaki EX250 "The L'il Red FunOne"
'74 CB750 "Choppa Wannabee"
'39 WLDD "PopCycle"
BS132 SENS NEWT
"A hand shift is a manly shift ."
<shamelessly stolen>
none to one to reply

 

Snag said...

Yes. Every Honda dealer in UK has access to spares from these people. I
can have them on Tuesday, how many do you need?

http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/cgi-bin/dss2-cgi/Catalogue.pl?cat=1%
20Genuine%20Spares

Maybe you should blame your Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki/Yamaha dealer network
or importers, not the manufacturers. Building in obsolescence is
difficult if you want to keep a reputation for reliability, unless
you're building a Harley. People will keep on buying Harleys out of
misguided patriotism, some folk will put up with any old shit if the
flag is the right colours. Importers have found that it's easy to
restrict supply of spares thereby making the bikes uneconomical to keep
on the road, I've seen it happen in other markets.

 

That's odd, didn't a couple of triumph 600's beat all the japanese bikes
on the TT a year or so back?

Why yes, I think they did.

 

ginge said...

Where were the Harleys? I can't seem to remember where either the
factory or privateer ones finished in any of the classes, or where any
of the US riders were in the placings? My memory is getting really bad.

Can someone remind me please.

 

David Silver Spares is *not* the dealer network ...

--
Snag aka OSG #1
'76 FLH "Bag Lady"
BS132 SENS NEWT
"A hand shift is a manly shift ."
<shamelessly stolen>
none to one to reply

 

*snort*

 

Andy Bonwick wrote

Which reminds me. I must sort out the lock on the GS, I had the key
freeze in it the other day, something hardly riders don't suffer from I
believe. A jug of hot water sorted it out but it is only going to be a
short time before it happens again I am sure.